Senator suggests gender played into Obama-Warren spat

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown threw a grenade into the ongoing war of words between Sen. Elizabeth Warren and President Barack Obama, a war that reached new heights with Tuesday’s dramatic setback of Obama’s trade agenda in the Senate.

Brown, one of the top Democratic leaders of the uprising against Obama’s trade push, criticized the president for what the senator saw as “disrespectful” comments toward Warren and suggested that Warren’s gender may have played a role.

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When asked how Obama was being disrespectful of the Massachusetts Democrat, Brown replied: “I think by just calling her ‘another politician.’” He continued, “I’m not going to get into more details. I think referring to her as first name, when he might not have done that for a male senator, perhaps? I’ve said enough.”

The gender remark added a new dimension to the deepening feud over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of Obama’s top agenda items that has pitted most of the Democratic caucus — but especially progressives like Brown and Warren — against the president.

For weeks, Obama and Warren have volleyed back-and-forth in interviews about giving the administration so-called fast-track authority in negotiating trade deals, with Warren accusing Obama of secrecy and Obama calling Warren “absolutely wrong” in her criticisms.

Brown said Obama crossed the line.

“I think the president was disrespectful to her by the way he did that,” Brown told reporters during a news conference that came after nearly all Senate Democrats voted to block trade measures from proceeding on the Senate floor. “I think that the president has made this more personal than he needed to.”

Still, there have been times that Obama has referred to male senators by their first names, including Brown. During a 2012 AFL-CIO convention in Columbus, Ohio, the president introduced Brown — whom he called an “outstanding senator” — to the crowd and later called him “Sherrod.”

The White House did not comment on Brown’s remarks. Warren did not immediately weigh in on Brown’s comments.

The Obama-Warren spat is something of a reversal for the two Democratic heavyweights who, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, enjoyed a public alliance, especially on consumer protections.

Over the weekend, Obama took multiple digs at Warren in an interview with Yahoo News, saying: “The truth of the matter is that Elizabeth is, you know, a politician like everybody else.”

Warren then fired back in an interview with The Washington Post, defending her criticisms of Obama’s trade push. The liberal firebrand has blasted the administration for its alleged lack of transparency while negotiating the pending trade agreement and contends that an obscure measure in the TPP, the investor-state dispute settlement provision, could be an avenue that could eventually unravel the Dodd-Frank 2010 financial reform law. And passing the six-year fast-track authority that Obama seeks — which would give Obama and his successor the ability to submit trade deals to Congress for approval without amendments from lawmakers — means that it could “grease the skids” to dismantle Dodd-Frank, particularly under a Republican president, Warren has argued.

“The president said in his Nike speech that he’s confident that when people read the agreement for themselves, that they’ll see it’s a great deal,” Warren said during the interview. “But the president won’t actually let people read the agreement for themselves. It’s classified.”

Tuesday’s failed procedural vote — when nearly all Senate Democrats united to block the trade measures from advancing on the Senate floor — was a clear victory for those on Warren’s side of the fight who have put increasing pressure on the Obama administration over trade.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the liberal independent running for the Democratic presidential nomination, called the vote “an important first victory in what will be a long battle.” The Congressional Progressive Caucus boasted in a statement: “Today’s delay of Trade Promotion Authority is just a taste of the fierce opposition ‘fast track’ will face — if it is ever brought up for a vote.”

And Democracy for America, the liberal grass-roots group, vowed to battle TPP until “it’s dead, buried and covered with six inches of concrete.”

In an email to supporters on Tuesday, Obama touted the TPP as the “most progressive trade agreement” in U.S. history and vowed not to sign a trade deal that would undercut American workers. Obama added: “This is personal for me.”

“I understand the skepticism about this, or any, trade deal,” Obama wrote to supporters. “I’ve met folks across the country who still feel burned by agreements of the past. Those are the people I came to Washington to fight for.”

Aside from Brown, few other Senate Democrats — even those who oppose the fast-track legislation — were willing to weigh in on the heightening Obama-Warren spat.

Sanders dismissed a question about the dispute between the two high-profile Democrats, arguing: “No one cares about clashes between the president and Elizabeth Warren.”

“This is not a personal issue. I like President Obama, and Elizabeth Warren is a good friend of mine,” Sanders said. But “on this issue, I believe Elizabeth Warren is right, I believe that I’m right, I believe Sherrod Brown is right, I believe all of us who are voting against fast track is right, I believe the president — who I have a lot of respect for, worked with on many occasions — is dead wrong.”

When asked whether he had a reaction to Obama’s comments about Warren, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a liberal Democrat who opposes fast-track authority, responded: “I certainly do not.”

“I think whether you agree or not, she’s very sincere and compassionate in her beliefs,” Manchin said. “So whether you agree with her or not or whether philosophically you’re in a different place … Elizabeth, she believes in what she believes. There’s no gotcha moments with Elizabeth, OK?”